Our First "Guest Star" Roamin' Catholics Adventure

We're back to the HIS and HER versions of Roamin' Catholics: Body & Soul.

First HIS...

The inspiration for our choice of this week’s church was a discussion with our Uncle Ed following mass last week.  We told him that the week before we had gone to St Mary’s and that we had just attended mass at St. Louis.  He suggested that we should go to St Ed’s the following week (this week.)  None of us had ever heard of a church named St Ed, Edward, Edmund, Eddie or any other variation.  This presented me with the challenge to find a St “E” Catholic church.  Truth be told it really wasn’t that hard.  I found two.  One in Baltimore and one in Bowie, MD.  Unfortunately, it appeared that the one in Baltimore was closed permanently (last things posted on their web page were from 2015.)  Fortunately, St Edward The Confessor was alive and kicking in Bowie, MD.  So off we went.

The church building looked to be of 1960’s vintage.  I can’t help but draw a comparison of mid-century modern (the style I would call this church) with the middle ages, the time that Edward the Confessor lived.  Unfortunately again, the church’s website is mum about the history of the parish and its worship building.  There is a somewhat lengthy (and interesting article for this history buff) about Saint Edward in the About Us section.  He was chap who appeared to be the antithesis of King Henry VIII.  You will recall that King Henry is the one responsible for starting the Church of England and in the process causing a schism with the Catholic church.  Will venerating Catholic saints was prohibited by the Church of England, Edward the Confessor could not be ignored as he was a former King of England (500 years prior.)  I was a little disappointed that there were no details about more recent history.  The founding of the parish.

Mass this week began with three Hail Marys, a nice touch, but then segued into the dreaded greet your neighbor.  I survived and looked forward to an uplifting message to be delivered during this weeks homily.  It was not to be.  Not because the homilist was off point (it has happened) but because it was the kick off to the annual Cardinals Appeal.  This is a major fund drive for the Archdiocese of Washington (I believe every Diocese has something like this, Bishop’s Appeal, Archbishop’s appeal…) and the funds raised go to a lot of worthy causes.  One year, I think we got the kick off message consecutive weeks in a row because we happen to be in three different diocese, three weeks in a row.  In the instances of our Archdiocese, the Cardinal delivers a taped message discussing the importance of the initiative but not a whole lot of theology.  The Cardinal then throws it to the pastor and the fun really starts.  Every year we are instructed on how to fill out the pledge card and invariably a joke is made that any visitors to the parish “could” put that parish on their pledge card.  The Pastor didn’t let us down.  Its all good and usually draws a few chuckles from the congregants.

This week in the responsorial psalm, we are told harden not your hearts when you hear the Lord.  The second reading tells us to be free of anxieties…WOW if it were only so easy.  The reading also states that a married man and married women are anxious about the things of the world and apparently we are supposed to please our spouse.  Finally, the gospel (St Mark) left me with powerful teachings of the Lord.  The one line that sticks out, “A new teaching with authority.”  This is in response to Jesus banishing the unclean spirit present in the synagogue.  Pretty powerful stuff.

Dinner on Saturday evening brought us to Al Acqua 2 on Capitol Hill in DC.  Not the most convenient dinner choice given where mass was, but it all worked out.  We were finally able to use a gift card given to us by Richard and Joyce Sitnik that we had been holding onto.  This was well worth the trip.  While the menu offered LOTS of choices (it kind of felt like studying for an exam) we settled on a selection that allowed us to sample several different entrees.  Restaurant week in Washington is going on right now so they had a special menu for that.  They had a bit of a tasting menu, so they had a special menu for that and then they had their regular menu.  We started with a Sangiovese blend (Castello Vechio – Monte Vibiano) to enjoy with the meal.  The first course was a salad course that permitted us to enjoy three different salads.  Along with this we had a sampling of their ricotta and spinach balls, delicioso!  The pasta course was next and we sampled their in house ribbon pasta with meat sauce.  Very fresh.  The meat course followed and featured three small cuts of filet mignon (prepared two different ways) and a NY Strip.  Honesty, this was my least favorite part of the meal.  We finished the meal with coffee and a sampling of their deserts.

and now HERS...

This week’s Roamin’ Catholics: Body and Soul required a fair bit of travel to reach our selected destinations. We chose to attend the 5:30 Saturday evening mass at St. Edward the Confessor in Bowie, MD (42 miles from home base). Just some quick background as to why we chose this church. Last week when we were roamin’, we called our Uncle Ed to wish him a happy birthday. He had asked what we were doing and when we told him about Roamin’ Catholics, he seemed to like the idea and said that we needed to find a St. Edward. There was chuckling at this point… with all the Edwards we know and have known, we questioned whether there really could be a saint of this name. Alas, after some research, we discovered is a St. Edward and there was a St. Edward’s parish.

So on to the church, the Church and the mass. There is little church history on St. Edward’s website. If I had to guess, I would say it was constructed in the mid 1900s or later. The outside of the building is rather non-descript. Inside, I felt that there was a mixture of styles and materials that didn’t seem to go together. The picture makes it look rather nice, but in person, it felt busy and non-congruous. The first two thing I noticed after finding a seat were 1. The congregation was small, and 2. The Church was noisy My years at St. Patrick’s Grade School in  Erie, PA drilled into me that this was really not an option.

The Church was friendly. So friendly, in fact, that much to Lou’s shagrin, this was one of those churches where you greet one another prior to the beginning of mass. He doesn't usually like this. I did notice that this felt very natural and not awkward as it sometimes does when you can tell people are only doing this because the priest has said to do this. It seemed like people were generally nice and friendly. There was no fear of cold and flu season at this church!

The one thing that stood out most to me was the priest, Fr. Scott Holmer. I must speak with respectful candor here. When mass first started and the priest first began speaking, the first thought that went through my head was, “Cats”… not the animal, but the musical. The speaking and singing style of the priest felt theatrical to me. There was inflection in his voice and he sang beautifully… but I was distracted because this felt like a performance to me. Maybe I am just used to a more monotone presentation of the mass and singing that is not as on key as it was with Fr. Scott.

Generally speaking, I think my favorite part of the mass is the homily. This is probably because it is really the only part of the Catholic mass that varies. To me it is the “make or break” moment, or the wild card of the mass, if you will.  To my dismay, it was the week of the Cardinal’s Appeal. The bottom line when it is this time of the year, there really is no homily. It is about collecting money for the diocese. So we listened to the recording from the Cardinal, the priest asked for our support and taught us how to fill out the form and envelope. It is formulaic and although necessary, I roll my eyes every year at this time because there is no message to get me through the week. My "make or break" moment fell short.

So my favorite part of this mass this week was the Communion song, Be Not Afraid. This song reminds me of so many things… Learning it at St. Patrick’s Grade School, my Mom, funerals, and our wedding. It is one of my favorite religious songs. It is one of the few songs I don’t lip sync in church. I know every word and I sing it proudly. Over the years, this song has made me smile and has also brought me to tears. Fortunately, last night, it did not do the latter.

We then traveled onward another 20 miles to feed our bodies at a restaurant across from Eastern Market in Southeast DC called Acqua Al 2.

We never would have even known about this place if it weren’t for a gift card we received about three years ago from Lou’s brother and sister-in-law. As a side note, this restaurant started in Florence, Italy, and sure enough, a quick Google search shows a restaurant in Florence with the same name and  a similar atmosphere and menu. The place was phenomenal! Our waiter was Italy personified… he offered wonderful suggestions regarding food and wine to try, and was very candid when we asked about dishes that he didn’t think we would like as much. He also knew what would pair best with the wine we selected. The restaurant had dishes for sharing, and I found it interesting when the waiter told us that in Italy people do not share their food. I thought of the Italian meals I had growing up and I know that a lot of sharing took place. He must have seen the puzzled look on my face because he then added... well, Italians share when they are at home, but not in public!

We began with a trio of salads for sharing… one Italian, one Greek and the third a combination of tomatoes and mozzarella cheese from Italy. The olives in the Greek salad were the best I’ve ever had. I am not a huge fan of olives, but these were extraordinary and paired well with our wine. When I commented on them, the waiter told us they were from Greece. Next, we sampled their Strozzapreti al Pomodoro which were fresh ricotta cheese and spinach balls, hand-rolled and baked in a house-made tomato sauce and parmagiano.

After that we shared the Tagliatelle al Ragú Toscano… house-made ribbon pasta tossed in a Tuscan beef ragú with parmagiano. We ended with a trio of their specialty… steak… fillet mignon in a blueberry reduction sauce, fillet mignon in a balsamic reduction sauce and New York strip topped with a thin layer of asiago cheese. Delizioso!

I was in food heaven. Each course was better than the one preceding. We rounded off the evening with a double espresso for Lou (when in Rome) a coffee for me, and a sampling of their four best deserts… an Italian ricotta cheesecake, tiramisu, panna cotta, and some flourless chocolate deliciousness with hazelnuts.

 I truly enjoyed the food and the experience with my husband. All things considered, this week I preferred the feeding of my body to the feeding of my soul.

And as always, we end with our "soulfie"...